Archive: Issue No. 139, April 2009

04.03.09 Ngcobo, Searle and Siopis at White Meat City, Denmark
20.03.09 Abrie Fourieís 'Oblique' at Vladimiro Izzo Gallery,
27.03.09 Signature Works on Paper (SWOP) at artSPACE berlin
28.03.09 Pieter Hugo, Mikhael Subotzky and Paolo Woods - 'Three Stories' in Luxemburg

04.03.09 'Stigmata', Pieter Hugo at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva
12.03.09 Nicholas Hlobo on 'Mythologies', at Haunch of Venison's new gallery

05.02.09 'Beauty and Pleasure in South African Contemporary Art', Stenersen Museum, Oslo

THE AMERICAS

12.03.09 'Developing Democracy: a focus on South African photography in New York

01.04.09 Claudette Schreuders in 'Mami Wata: Arts for water spirits in Africa and its Diasporas', Washington DC
27.03.09 'Integration and Resistance in the Global Era', the 10th Havana Biennial
23.04.09 ITASC's ICEPAC, art and science research project exhibits results at Bienal del Fin del Mundo

29.01.09 'Johannesburg to New York', Samson Mnisi in Brooklyn
11.02.09 Pieter Hugo in 'Unbounded: New Art for a New Century', New Jersey

20.09.08 'Beyond the Familiar' photography in Massachusetts

'For Your Eyes Only', currently on show at Den Hvide Kødby/White Meat City in Copenhagen, is an exhibition of poetic and political video art from Sub-Saharan Africa.

The line up includes works by Nkosikhona Ngcobo, Berni Searle and Penny Siopis alongside Guy Wouete, Achillek· Komguem, Serigne Mor NIANG/Mara, Amadou Kane Sy and Samba Fall.

Råderum, Office for Contemporary Art is the team responsible for staging this event, bringing African contemporary art to the old meat market setting. The ambition of the office is to work across the boundaries of established genres and institutions and develop new formats within the contemporary art scene.

Opens: March 4
Closes: March 29

Vladimiro Izzo Gallery launches in Berlin with the first German solo show by Abrie Fourie, 'Oblique'.

This Italian-owned space aims to promote cultural diversity in Berlin by hosting a variety of international artists whose work captures a rich political and historical moment in time, stirs consciousness and challenges societal conformity and indifference.

Fourie - who works with the images and symbols of ordinary life, creating a unique yet common cultural iconography of the contemporary world - will exhibit 'Oblique' from March to May. Living in and travelling between worlds as vastly different as Switzerland, India, South Africa, Germany and Chile, Fourie explores the familiar zones of home with the same interest and curiosity as he does the unknown, not so much defining a place, as circling the relationship between spaces, sign and self.

Opens: March 20
Closes: May 6

Inky Cuttlefish Studio's travelling exhibit 'Signature Works on Paper' is an ambitious project showcasing the talent of several visionary artists whom Inky Cuttlefish has invited to exhibit their works on paper. The show, which opened in London and which will subsequent travel to Durban, exhibits this month in Berlin.

Included on the show are Martin Adams, Anna Alcock, Ulrika Bygge, Jenny Dawes, Fiona de la Nougerede, Steve Edwards, Carl Harris, Rachel I'Anson, Katherine Jones, Nick Morley, Esther Neslen, Charles Rowe, Kirsten Schmidt, Michael Stanger, John Tate, Janet Wilson and Alke Schmidt.

A series of workshops and events will run alongside each stage of the exhibition. A printed catalogue will also accompany the exhibition.

Opens: March 27
Closes: April 25

'Three Stories' about Africa, presented by two African photographers of the post-Apartheid generation and a Dutch-Canadian photographer, seeks to give visibility to the inhabitants and to the complexity and nuances of African culture.

Hugo presents his Hyena and Other Men, an exploration of the lives of street performers in Lagos, Nigeria, whilst Subotsky displays his small town essay Beaufort West and Woods his series Chinafrica, a recount of the conquest of the African continent by the Chinese.

Opens: March 28
Closes: May 30

'Stigmata' groups together six contemporary photographers: Gustave Germano (Argentina), Pieter Hugo (South Africa), Shai Kremer (Israel), Suzanne Opton (US), Robert Polidori (Canada) and Dana Popa (Rumania). Each of their work seeks to capture our attention through pictures of both people and places dealing with situations of crisis, be it on the frontline or behind.

Opens: March 4
Closes: July 26

Haunch of Venison launches its new London exhibition programme this March with a group exhibition acknowledging the building's previous role as the Museum of Mankind.

Turning the 21 500 square feet gallery into a giant cabinet of curiosities, 'Mythologies' will feature work by over 40 international artists, including major figures such as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Sophie Calle, Christian Boltanski, Tony Cragg, Kiki Smith, Bill Viola, Keith Tyson and Damien Hirst, alongside emerging talents such as Carlos Amorales, Jamie Shovlin and Nicholas Hlobo.

Opens: March 12
Closes: April 25

Kay Hassan, Lawrence Lemoana, Athi Patra Ruga, Andries Botha, Langa Magwa, Berni Searle, Nontsikeleo Veleko, Nandipha Mntambo, Senzeni Marasela, Frances Goodman, Nicholas Hlobo and Dineo Bopape are included on 'Beauty and Pleasure in South African Contemporary Art' at Stenersen Museum, Oslo in Norway.

Work on show explores identity issues, individuality, sensuality, sexuality and gender issues through a wide variety of media - photography, installation, video, works on paper, textile works, performance and sculpture.

The selected artists share an interest in expressing provocative themes within highly tactile and formally orientated works. The works in this exhibition are not only decorative and visually appealing, but also speak on a very poetic level about the beauty that is found in everyday life not only in Africa but all over the world.

As a strong counterpoint to the socially engaged, politically entrenched art often featured in exhibitions of contemporary art from Africa, the theme of this exhibition is linked to notions of beauty and pleasure.

Opens: February 5
Closes: May 10

'Developing Democracy: a New Focus on South African Photography', is a group exhibition focusing on dominant trends in South African contemporary photography currently on show at Kyle Kauffman Gallery, New York.

Included in the exhibition is recent work by David Goldblatt, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Nontsikelelo 'Lolo' Veleko, Raymond Keeping, Senzeni Marasela and others. These artists, young and old, male and female, white and black, world-renowned and upcoming, reflect the diversity of the new South Africa. While their subject matter, aesthetic, and approaches to the medium are equally varied, they are all working to subvert earlier photographic traditions, in order to create an innovative visual language for a new post-apartheid culture.

Opens: March 12
Closes: May 30

This exhibition brings together a wide variety of cultural artefacts, from headdresses and masks to film posters, as well as artworks by contemporary practitioners who have seen Mami Wata as an inspiring muse. The contemporary component includes paintings, etchings and sculptures by artists including Alison Saar, Sonya Clark, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Twin Seven-Seven, Claudette Schreuders and Edouard Duval-Carrié.

Opens: April 1
Closes: July 26

The Havana Biennial celebrates 25 years of existence with its tenth edition in 2009, bringing together more than 200 artists from 40 countries.

'Integration and Resistance in the Global Era' includes South Africans Hassan and Husain Essop, Johannes Phokela, Andrew Putter, Berni Searle, Minnette Vári and Manfred Zylla, and Zimbabwean Dan Halter. Zanele Muholi, Nicholas Hlobo and Steven Cohen have work on 'Gender, (Trans) Gender and (De) Gendered', a special project of the biennial.

Opens: March 27
Closes: April 30

The projects and site-specific installations at the ICEPAC, Antarctic site will be exhibited as part of the 2nd Bienal del Fin del Mundo, an exhibition curated by Alfons Hug entitled 'Intemperie' (Tempest), focusing on weather, climate and Antarctica.

The main venue of the Bienal is Ushuaia,Terra del Fuego, Argentina (April 23 - May 25) with satellite exhibitions taking place at Centro Cultural Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro (Jan 19 - March 1), SANAE IV, Antarctica (Feb 3 -17), and OCA, Sao Paulo (March 7 - April 12).

Opens: April 23
Closes: May 25

The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), the first and only contemporary African Diasporan Art museum in Brooklyn, New York, presents 'Johannesburg to New York'.

Curated by Kimberli E. Gant, the show is the first retrospective of the collaborative work between South African artist Samson Mnisi and New York artist Cannon Hersey.

Combining their various perspectives on the changing cultural dynamics of South Africa and its emergence onto the world stage, these artists have created mixed media imagery that is socially conscious while also being visually stimulating.

Mnisi incorporates ancient Zulu symbolism and rituals with Hersey's captivating photography to give viewers insider and outsider perspectives on contemporary South African societies.

Opens: January 29
Closes: May 17

'Unbounded: New Art for a New Century' opens at the Newark Museum, New Jersey in February. This provocative exhibition presents 50 masterworks created in the past 15 years by more than 30 contemporary artists.

The exhibition is drawn from the Museum's African, American, Native American, Asian and Decorative Arts collections and encompasses painting, sculpture, ceramics, fashion, jewellery, textiles, photography and video.

A dynamic thematic display highlights the universal concerns and ideas that inspire artistic creativity, creating unexpected connections or groupings that transcend traditional divisions based on geography, genre or media.

Opens: February 11
Closes: August 16

'Beyond The Familiar: Photography And The Construction Of Community' is one of a four part programme at Williams College Museum of Art which focuses on the role of photography and film as it reflects, and potentially constructs, cultural identity.

The exhibition brings together 10 photography projects from around the world that span the history of the medium. These projects portray individuals from distinct cultural, economic, and professional groups.

Each of these artists has defined a group - whether by race, class, occupation, or neighborhood - and depicted individuals in a manner that moves beyond portraiture. Instead, each artist explores personal identity in the larger context of social groups.

Artists included in the exhibition are Felice Beato and Peter Henry Emerson from the 19th century; Edward Curtis, August Sander, and Aaron Siskind from the first half of the 20th century; Robert Frank, Barbara Norfleet and David Goldblatt from the second half of the 20th, and recent work by Tina Barney and Zwelethu Mthethwa.

Opens: September 20
Closes: March 8, 2009